Data collected from a 1978 Iowa Poll shows that while Iowans were generally open to women holding various positions in society--including religious roles, their boss, the governor of Iowa, and the president of the United States--they overwhelmingly preferred men to hold them. These data come from Iowa Poll #229, a random sample survey of 600 Iowans from March 1978, which has been restored as part of a larger IPOL project to recover lost data from past Iowa Polls. This question asks specifically, “Which of the statements on this card comes closest to how you feel about women in the following positions?”, with respondents indicating whether they’d “favor a woman in this position”, “oppose a woman in this position”, or “accept, but would prefer a man”.
The first question asked respondents how they’d feel about women being their pastor, priest, or rabbi. The least common response (22%) was to favor a woman in the position of a pastor, priest, or rabbi. The number of respondents who would oppose a woman in such a position was relatively similar (27%). The majority of respondents (51%) would “accept, but prefer a man” should a woman hold the position of a pastor, priest, or rabbi. The second question asks respondents how they’d feel about a woman being their boss. Respondents most frequently indicated that they’d “accept, but prefer a man” in the position of a boss (48%). The next most common response was to favor a female boss (32%), followed by opposition to a female boss (20%).
The next two questions evaluate Iowans’ opinions of women holding political positions, including the governor of Iowa and the President of the United States. For both questions, the most common answer choice was to “accept, but prefer a man”, with nearly 43% of respondents choosing this answer for the governor of Iowa, and 4`% choosing this answer for the President. Support was much higher for a female governor (27%) than for a female President (19%), while opposition was much higher for a female President (40%) than for a female governor (30.30%).
Iowa Poll #229, conducted by the Des Moines Register, was administered to a random sample of Iowans in March 1978. In addition to the questions about women's roles, the survey asked respondents their opinions on a wide variety of topics, including the creation of an independent Palestinian state, the effects of high inflation, LGBTQ+ individuals holding different positions, and entertainment consumption. Understanding Iowans’ past opinions on these topics can help us understand how perspectives have changed and what ideas have remained popular. IPOL has also been working with UI Libraries and the Des Moines Register to restore data from dozens of Iowa Polls from the 1960s to early 1980s. More information about the project can be found here. We are working to release a full report on our findings as we analyze additional questions.